Following the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment’s proposed regulations for temporary point-of-sale warnings for BPA exposures from canned and bottled foods and beverages, this week OEHHA finalized the Maximum Allowable Dose Level for BPA of 3 micrograms per day from dermal exposure from solid materials. The MADL will go into effect on October 1, 2016.
Once in effect, this will be the rate of exposure at which a warning will be required for dermal exposure to BPA.
Now that the first BPA 60-day notice of violation is out, it remains to be seen whether this seemingly low MADL for just dermal absorption will result in significant numbers of enforcement actions. Proving that an average user is not exposed to 3 µg/day of BPA just from touching a product may be difficult for defendants, unlike, for example, lead cases, in which ingestion through hand-to-mouth activities often drives exposure and has limited the types of products ripe for Proposition 65 claims.
The dermal MADL also provides little to no guidance for food and beverage manufacturers, as there still remains no safe harbor level for ingestion.
